I'm planning to built a new computer for my son for christmas. I don't have much money, so it'll be rather low cost. Buing a new (good) gfx card is out of question for now. maybe later.

Now, the mainboard I'm considering (ASRock K7S41) has a Mirage VGA onboard; anyone got any experience with these? Or will he be better off for starters when I save the money and get a board w/o VGA and use the Geforce 256 SDR I still got in spare?

Any comments? Thanks!

November 25th, 2004, 01:46 PM

Martin_89

Get yourself a good motherboard from ASUS, MSI, Abit, Gigabyte etc. without onboard video, that way you have a really good motherboard to start with. then use your spare Geforce 256 for video, 512MB DDR Ram if you can afford it and an AMD Sempron processor (athlon XP 2500+ if you can afford it) that means that you have a good platform to build on when it comes to upgrade time etc.

November 25th, 2004, 03:01 PM

Todd a

Your GeForce256 DDR will smoke most onboard video. What you planning on spending? Unless you can get an nForce2 board with integrated graphics the GeForce256 DDR is the way to go. I'd help you price out a good budget system, but I'm not in Germany, so I do not know prices and parts around there.

Used parts are also a good idea if you have local shops around you. You can get old cases for very cheap or free sometimes. Even older P233 computers are pretty easy to find free around me for anywhere from free to $20. I then strip out the system and get a new PS, motherboard, CPU, memory, and hard drive. The motherboard has the sound and network and graphics if needed. In the US I can put together a decent system for $250. Later they can add a CD-R/W or DVD recorder or a better graphics card, but it gives them a good internet and gaming system to start with. Most of the time I can leave in the 20x or so CDROM and floppy and find a keyboard and mouse used with the system. That can trim about $50 or more off the price.

November 25th, 2004, 03:24 PM

Ford Prefect

thanks for your replies.

First of all, it's not a Geforce DDR, it's only a Geforce SDR... that's why I'm concerned it won't do too much good.

I'm planning to spend no more than EUR 200, and so far I've chosen either the ASRock K7S41 (w/VGA) or the slightly cheaper ASRock K7VT4. The CPU will be a Sempron 2200, which will most likely be replaced by a faster one later (I will then keep the 2200 as replacement for my Duron 1300 as I'm not a gamer).

Maybe I'll be able to increase the budget slightly and buy something like a cheap GF4 or so... right now I doubt that either the onboard VGA or the GF256 will give good results.

Oh, and used parts might be worth checking out, although to my knowledge the local computer stores here don't deal with used stuff. Guess I'll just have to ask them :D

November 25th, 2004, 03:25 PM

Bennyboy

For about 80 Euro you should be able to get an older nForce 2 motherboard with decent onboard sound and GeForce 4MX graphics, better than the old 256SDR. Team that with an older Athlon XP or Sempron, two sticks of memory (ideally 2x256MB to take advantage of the Dual Channel for nearly double the gaming performance) and your little nipper should be all set! :)

You can save on many of those items, but I went with a spec I would be happy to own. Smaller HDD, less RAM, plain DVD drive and 15" monitor would knock a bit off, as would a cheaper ATX case. That would get it just under 400 Euros.

Hope some of that helps.

BB

November 25th, 2004, 03:28 PM

Ford Prefect

oh, btw. my budget is just for the Pc itself as I've got all of the peripherals (keyb/mouse/monitor) amongst my spare parts :-)

November 25th, 2004, 03:30 PM

Bennyboy

Sorry, 3 posts in the time it took me to write mine! :o

That EUR 200 budget is pretty tight, but I'd still recommend and nForce 2 board, as Todd said, whatever else you pair it with. Factor in the price of even a second hand GeForce 4MX and the motherboard is likely as cheap as that ASRock.

BB.

November 25th, 2004, 03:35 PM

Ford Prefect

a nForce2 board sounds promising... maybe I'll have to recalculate it. Will need to catch up with the nForce2 specs, I'm not too familiar with it.

November 25th, 2004, 03:58 PM

Ford Prefect

dang. Not ONE shop in my area offers any nForce2 boards w/onboard VGA. Guess I'll settle with th ASRock K7VT4 together with a NVidia MX-4000 / 64MB (together for EUR 56). Will burst my overall budget by 30,- , but what the hell...

November 25th, 2004, 08:21 PM

Martin_89

cant you order from the internet?

the Nforce 2 motherboard with integrated graphics will be well worth it.

some of the guys here might rememeber this time last year i was running a GeForce DDR 64MB and the MX440's were faster than it, so i can imagine the difference between the 32MB GeForce SDR